In this week’s Lectorial session, the topic of discussion was ‘texts’. Brian gave a presentation which explored the idea of ‘textual analysis’, showing us the origins of this “tradition” and how one may go about analysing a media text.
So why did we start analysing the media products around us? This was a response to 2 key concerns:
– An ‘Effects’ or ‘Media Influence’ tradition in communication studies
– A Post WW2 turn against a particular idea of culture
I thought it was interesting to examine the presence of ‘media influence’ studies in the development of textual analysis. The ‘old’ idea that the producers of media can send linear and direct ‘messages’ to their audiences (the Bullet Theory) is an outdated one, and with the move away from this communication theory came a process of attempting to analyse the media that surrounds us.
Bandura’s ‘Bobo Doll’ experiment was also brought up in the discussion of ‘effects studies’ and the support of the idea that media has a direct influence over its audiences. Having studied this experiment in both VCE Media and Psychology, I’ve got some underlying issues with this example being used to support the ‘Cultural Effects’ model of media influence theories (that is, theories which propose that the media has a direct and strong influence over its audiences).
First of all, the BoBo Doll itself is a toy designed to be punched and pushed around. Therefore the argument that the children in the experiment simply mimicked what they saw on the videos they were shown is somewhat flawed. It would be similar to placing a child in front of a punching bag and commenting on their likely behaviours towards the bag (punching) as unusual. Secondly, in the experiment the children were highly influenced by the experimenters, who in many ways manipulated/strongly suggested to the children that they should act aggressively towards the BoBo Dolls. This clearly limits the study’s usefulness to the argument that violent media causes violence in susceptible audiences.
the Hypodermic Needle Theory (or the Bullet Theory)
In the second half of the session, we looked at the ‘affordances’ of the sound medium. Jasmine talked to us about the different properties and capabilities of the ‘Sonic Environment’, describing sound as pervasive, multilayered, omnidirectional and intimate. In this exploration of the audio medium, we looked at 2 major codes of ‘aural semiotics’.
Perspective: refers to the way in which we prioritise what we hear and what we ignore. There are 3 levels to consider when investigating perspective. The ‘Figure’ is the subject of interest. ‘Ground’ includes sounds that provide information regarding setting/context. Lastly, the ‘Field’ involves ambient/background sounds, that is, those we can hear but do not pay attention to.
Social Distance: is concerned with the differences in formality between what is shown and the listener. Sounds may be presented as intimate, formal, informal, public or personal – each of these sound ‘forms’ hold their own properties and qualities.